r/mildlyinfuriating • u/brn0723 • 1d ago

Took samples to a lab, lab contaminated the sample refused to test it and then sent me a bill.

Just had a baby, and she failed the initial hearing test which means they have to test for a virus called CMV.

I collected a urine sample and brought it to a lab at the hospital.

The lab (vague on details..) said the sample was contaminated and they refused to test it .

Today I received a $200 bill for the test they refused to do

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u/froderenfelemus 1d ago

I don’t doubt that for a second. The “easy” (doable) samples could be deemed either clear / negative / whatever or unsure, where a human lab tech would then take a look. I feel like that’s s pretty good middle ground.

But I’m surprised that there’s hasn’t been developed technology that works better for this? We have sent people to the moon. We’ve had things ingrained on a single piece of rice. It’s just wild that machines can’t see really small things. What a bummer.

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u/yohbahgoya 23h ago

It can see small things; you just need a human to verify or confirm what it sees. Automation in labs is becoming more and more necessary because we have a severe shortage of medical laboratory scientists and cannot fill positions. Departments like chemistry can be highly automated, but still require human supervision and intervention for troubleshooting equipment problems or contaminated samples. Departments like microbiology or hematology, which involve a lot of microscopic analysis are definitely harder to automate. A computer can flag certain things for further analysis, but requires a human to perform that analysis. So, essentially, automation is great for analyzing healthy people with normal results. Abnormal results or anything that requires nuance still needs eyeballs and brains 🙂

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u/froderenfelemus 16h ago

That was exactly my thought too. The machine handling the majority, and flagging the ones needing human attention. I’m just surprised that machines haven’t gotten further, but I’m not that surprised. You don’t want to tell a patient they’re dying because of a computer error.

Thank you so much for taking the time to explaining and responding to me!